Canoe Gift Guide for Boaties

If you are like me, you haven’t done very much of your Christmas shopping yet.  While I think I have improved from my days of waiting till Christmas Eve to go shopping, I still frustrate myself with my procrastination.  Someday I hope to be done with my shopping even before the dreaded “black Friday.”  I’ll have to try again next year.

The majority of our family’s boating this year was done in our 17ft Grumman canoe.  If you are looking for gift ideas for the Boatie in your life, click the “read more” link below to see some of gear we used and why we liked it or what we’d like to upgrade to in the future.

This Boat is Real: The Hangover Edition

 

You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when I started a new high school and I met Josh, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolfpack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolfpack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Josh joined in later. And a couple weeks ago, when Josh introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added five more guys to my wolfpack. Seven of us wolves, running around the Gulf of Mexico together, in Clearwater, looking for mermaids and a white whale. So tonight, I make a toast!

Bachelor parties are the best.  I can’t think of many other situations where you can so quickly make instant friends.  My long time friend, Josh (yes, we share the same first name), is getting married this month.  I met Josh way back in highschool and we have been great friends ever since.  When Josh asked me to be in his wedding I was pretty excited.  Josh and I haven’t lived in the same town for a while now so I couldn’t wait for an opportunity to try and find some trouble with a good friend.  

Read more about our offshore adventure and see the pictures after the jump.

This Boat is Real: How to Get Rich Boating

There is a misconception that boating is for rich people.  I would like to suggest that boating could make you rich.  I’ll come back to that thought in a little bit.

One of the biggest reasons I started this blog was to try and get more days out on the water with family and friends.  This past Labor Day we decided to attempt getting three families out on the water.  With the canoe loaded on the truck and lunches packed in the cooler, the plan was to meet at 10:30am and all caravan out to the river.  If all went accordingly, we’d be paddling on the river by 11:15am.  Like all good families we were on the river by 12:30; more than an hour past the planned launch time.

This Boat is Real: Our First Time on Jake and Michelle’s Boat w/video

There are two kinds of people in this world, those that like to go boating and those that are liars.  If you’re wondering where fishermen fit into those two categories, they are both.  My point is, when a boater asks you to join him/her out for a day on the water, they aren’t lying.  People that go boating have a passion for being out on the water, and they genuinely want to share that passion with the people around them.

This Boat is Real: Our First River Trip of the Year

“So can you understand?  Why I want a daughter while I'm still young. I wanna hold her hand and show her some beauty before all this damage is done; but if it's too much to ask, if it's too much to ask, then send me a son” - Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

I can’t tell you how annoying I find it when TV shows start with some quote.  We get it; you read some dead old guy and have taken something he said out of context to try and sound deep  or convince others you’re smart.  So why did I start this post with a quote?  I’m not sure, probably  because I can’t get this part of Arcade Fire’s song out of my head.  The quote is a little bittersweet for me.  It makes me smile; God not only blessed me with a daughter, he gave me twin girls.  But, it also stings a little because my wife and I have been trying to have another child for some time now with no results.  The whole process has been frustrating and painful but it has also helped me to cherish not only my own children but also my beautiful nieces and nephews that and my beautiful family that much more.

Most of my favorite times with my little girls have been in the beauty of the outdoors.  About a month ago took a canoe trip on the Econlockhatchee River.  Good luck with the pronunciation, we usually just call it The Econ.

This Boat is Real: Our First Boat Trip of the Year

Downtown Orlando

It’s winter time in Florida, and that means…well, it means more boating days.  The only “Floridians” that even have the slightest idea of what the word “winterize” means, only moved here a few days ago.  I don’t bring this point up to throw it in the faces of my fellow boaters to the north; no, I would be doing myself and my fellow boaters a great disservice if I didn’t boat the heck out of those extra days available to me.  Click through the jump below to find out how we spent one of those days, on our first family boating adventure of 2012.